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Superset serves as the primary BI and dashboarding interface within the NexusOne platform. It uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication and relies on an external PostgreSQL database for metadata storage. For caching and asynchronous task handling, Superset uses Redis, with additional configuration applied through custom Python overrides.

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Environment configuration

This section describes how the NexusOne team configured Superset.

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Accessing the Superset UI

Superset provides a web-based interface to interact with it. You can access the Superset UI on NexusOne using the following URL: 
https://superset.<client>.nx1cloud.com
When you purchase NexusOne, you receive a client name. Replace client with your assigned client name.
After visiting the URL, enter your NexusOne credentials to log in.

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Trino integration

Within NexusOne, Superset connects to Trino and treats each catalog connected to Trino as a database. Within each catalog, you can query schemas and tables in SQL Lab, or select them for chart creation. Since NexusOne configured an Iceberg and Hive catalog within its Trino environment, it appears automatically in Superset without additional setup.

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Authentication and authorization

Superset uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. After navigating to the previously mentioned URL, you must enter the credentials assigned to you when you purchased NexusOne to be successfully authenticated. For authorization, Superset controls user access to perform specific actions using role-based permissions in KeyCloak.

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Backend database

Within NexusOne, Superset uses a PostgreSQL database to store metadata about dashboards and charts. NexusOne ensures that a dedicated Superset database is available and that Superset can connect to it using the appropriate host, user, and password settings. This provides a reliable and persistent backend for all Superset metadata.

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Superset UI and SQL Lab

Superset provides an intuitive interface for both technical and non-technical users to explore data, write SQL, and build visualizations. Two major components of the user experience are SQL Lab and the Superset UI. Together, they enable query development, dataset preparation, and dashboard creation directly from a web browser.

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Superset UI overview

The Superset UI makes navigation and analytics simple. You can move between dashboards, datasets, SQL Lab, and chart creation through a clear layout.
01-superset-homepage

Superset homepage
At the top of the Superset UI, the navigation bar provides quick access to all major features, such as:
  • Dashboards: Lists all dashboards available to you and allows you to manage them.
  • Charts: Lists all saved charts and allows you to manage them.
  • Datasets: Lists all available datasets created from SQL Lab or imported from catalogs in Trino. Charts and dashboards use these datasets as sources.
  • SQL: A dropdown menu that includes:
    • SQL Lab: An SQL editor used to write and execute queries.
    • Saved Queries: Previously stored SQL statements for reuse.
    • Query History: Logs of past executed queries for reference or re-execution.
  • +: A quick-access button for creating new charts, dashboards, or datasets, depending on your configuration.
  • Settings: User account options, including profile information, theme preferences, and language settings.
These features act as the central entry point for accessing all exploration, visualization, and account-related features within Superset.

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Main UI sections

The center page of the Superset UI provides summarized access to Superset features, such as:
  • Recents: Displays items you have interacted with recently. It includes the following three tabs:
    • Viewed: Recently viewed dashboards or charts
    • Edited: Items recently modified
    • Created: Items recently created
  • Dashboards and Charts: It includes the following three tabs:
    • Favorite: Dashboards or charts marked as favorites
    • Mine: Dashboards or charts created by the user
    • All: All visible dashboards or charts. You can also create a new chart or dashboard using the + Dashboard or + Chart option.
  • Saved Queries: Contains SQL queries you previously saved from SQL Lab. You can also create a new SQL query using the + SQL query option.

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SQL Lab overview

SQL Lab is Superset’s built-in SQL editor, designed for interactive data exploration. It allows you to run queries against catalogs in Trino, preview results, and transform them into reusable datasets. To access SQL Lab, use the following steps:
  1. At the top-left navigation bar of the Superset UI page, click the SQL menu.
  2. From the dropdown, select SQL Lab.
02-sql-lab

SQL Lab in Superset

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Key capabilities

  • Multi-catalog access via Trino: Each catalog in Trino appears as a database in SQL Lab. This allows you to query Iceberg, Hive, or other sources without additional configuration.
  • Autocomplete and schema browser: SQL Lab provides interactive schema exploration. You browse catalogs, schemas, and tables before writing queries.
  • Result previews: Query results appear instantly in a preview grid, allowing quick inspection before saving.
  • Save queries and create datasets: You can do the following:
    • Save a query for future reuse
    • Convert SQL output into a named dataset for use in charts
  • Async execution and task offloading: Within NexusOne, Redis and other configured Celery workers handle background execution. This enables long-running queries.

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Superset hands-on examples

There are many things you can do in Superset. This section describes two examples, running a query and creating charts and dashboards.

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Run a query

Generally, when using SQL Lab to run a query, you take the following steps:
  1. Select a catalog, schema, and table.
  2. Enter a query and run it. Superset displays all available tables.
Assume you entered a query that does the following:
  • Selects unique employee IDs and first names
  • Orders the results by employee ID in ascending order
  • Limits the results to 50 rows
SELECT DISTINCT employee_id, first_name
FROM employees1
ORDER BY employee_id ASC
LIMIT 50
There are some important things to know when trying to understand your result.
  • On Superset, this query would generate a table preview.
    03-query-preview

    SQL Lab query example
  • If you’d rather create a table or view, you can click the dropdown menu beside Run. It provides an option to create a table or view.
    04-create-a-table-or-view

    Create a table or view
  • After running the query, the results appear in a table format.
    05-query-result

    Query result
  • You can also view a history of when you ran these queries.
    06-query-history

    Query history

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Create a dashboard

You can create charts and dashboards in Superset to explore and visualize your data. Follow these steps to create a line chart and dashboard:
  1. From the Superset navigation bar, click Charts and select + Chart to create a new chart.
  2. Choose the dataset you want to visualize.
  3. Choose a chart type, for example, Line Chart, and click Create New Chart.
  4. Configure the chart:
    • Set the X-axis.
    • Set the Metrics.
    • Optional: Add filters or groupings as needed.
  5. Click Create Chart to preview the chart.
  6. Click Save, enter a chart name, select or create a dashboard, and click Save & Go to Dashboard.
The following images show what the chart creation process looks like and the outcome of adding the chart to a dashboard.
07-creating-a-chart

Creating a chart in Superset
08-created-dashboard

Dashboard created from the chart

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Additional resources

  • For more details about Superset, refer to the Superset official documentation.
  • To learn more about how NexusOne uses KeyCloak and Trino, refer to the NexusOne KeyCloak and Trino documentation.